A/N: Yay, another chapter. I am writing, on and off, it's just not easy with the move. More soon :)
Thanks as always goes to Trina109 for taking time out of her increasingly hectic life to beta this for me. You rock! :)
Gibbs drove like a man possessed. Tony clung tightly to the handle above the car door, for once wishing that Ziva was driving, rather than the Boss. He was glad that Landon's family lived relatively close to the Navy Yard; otherwise, he was pretty sure he was going to lose his lunch. Gibbs pulled the car in close to the kerb with a screech of brakes, slamming the door and stalking up the path before Tony and Ziva had time to recover their breath from the short but violent car trip. They caught up to him just as the door was answered to his heavy and insistent knocking. The woman who opened it, looking startled, appeared to be in her mid to late fifties. Her face hardened as Gibbs held up his badge and identification.
"Special Agent Gibbs."
"NCIS" she spat.
"You know who we are." Tony stated.
"Of course I know who you are. You're the ones protecting that scum, Timothy McGee."
"That is why we are here" Ziva put in.
"Need to know where you and your husband were two days ago." Gibbs told her.
"Why? Did someone do something to your precious special agent?" She sounded almost gleeful. Catching sight of the agents' faces, she continued. "You can't expect me to be sorry. That man destroyed my son!"
Tony saw Ziva start forward out of the corner of his eye and put his arm out to stop her. Disregarding the younger agents, Gibbs went on.
"Agent McGee is missing."
She smirked. "Well, as much as I wish it was, it wasn't us. We've been in Las Vegas for the last week, at a business conference."
...
"Alibi checks out, Boss." Tony stood and picked up the remote for the plasma, clicking it to bring up a series of photographs. "Landon's mother father and elder brother flew out to Vegas a week ago. They own a chain of fast food restaurants across DC; the trip to Vegas was their national conference."
"They definitely attended?"
"Yeah. In fact they won some big award. Over 600 people were there for the presentation. Sorry, Boss."
"So we've still got nothing?"
"You know it makes you wonder." Tony mused.
"Wonder what, Tony?" Ziva asked.
"How did two hard working people produce a son as unbalanced as Landon?"
"I don't care, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. "Do we have any other leads?"
"Ahh, I still have some of that list to compile..."
"And I will... finish checking the backgrounds of Abby's boyfriends."
Gibbs shook his head and strode out of the bullpen. Maybe Palmer had some answers.
...
Palmer was hunched over a microscope when Gibbs got down to the lab. He startled as soon as he realised Gibbs was standing behind him.
"Agent Gibbs!"
"Got anything, Palmer?" Gibbs tried to curb his impatience, knowing that the ME's assistant was nervous around him.
He nodded. "I matched most of the fingerprints from Abby's apartment to Abby and Agent McGee. There was one that didn't belong to them. It was on the light switch by the front door. It was only a latent print, and it looks like it was done through a glove. You know, most people don't realise you can still leave a fingerprint through a glove as long as it's stretched really tight and..."
"Palmer. The match?"
"What match? Oh the fingerprint match. I ran it through AFIS and didn't get anything."
"So you don't have a match?"
"Yeah I do." He quailed under Gibbs' icy blue stare. "It came up on an Interpol watch list." He brought a photo up on the monitor. "His name is Anatoly Demidov ; he's wanted for drug smuggling, people smuggling and murder. He's connected to the Novikov drug syndicate."
Gibbs stared at the screen, at a name he thought he'd never have to deal with again. Suddenly it was crystal clear. McGee and Abby weren't the targets- he was. He knew that Tony and Ziva were safe upstairs. That left Ducky.
With a sense of urgency, he asked "Palmer, is Ducky still here?"
Palmer shook his head, confused. "Doctor Mallard left about 20 minutes ago." As Gibbs ran from the room, he asked "Why? Is something wrong?"
